DPS is also served by Thai from BKK so I can add it to my Star award ticket for free (and it's nice, when you're flying half-way around the world to have a single ticket, just in case something goes wrong). I've also flown there on Singapore. In my experience, it's a pretty easy award ticket to get. TG has plenty of availability, and SQ's is decent.

This is, of course, the advantage of flying to a place other people want to go to. It can be a disadvantage as well, though.

Has anyone been further south than Puerto Princesa recently?
I lived and worked on Bugsuk island in 1996-1998, I used to have to take a full day bus from PPS down to Rio Tuba town. Was very under-developed in the south of Palawan back then, interested to see what it is like now

I've done a lot of Google searches on El Nido. Beyond the El Nido resorts can anyone point me to some good trip reports of hotels below $300 a night? Beyond the El Nido resorts, Tripadvisor is pretty much useless. I've seen some dumpy looking places with tons of 5 star reviews and I've seen some great looking places with a lot of negative reviews. No place is consistent.

IMM2B suggested http://noanoaisland.com/ which looks within my price range, but after paying for the transportation from/to the airport and the $75 per person fee for meals it gets close to the price range of the El Nido resorts.

Are there any other islands like Noa Noa? Is it better to stay outside of town on a nice beach? Or, stay in town for cheap and focus on the island hopping?

Pros and cons indeed. Came back from Bali a couple of months ago and my husband and I actually loved it. Curiously, a lot of our friends who still live in the Philippines or live in other countries in Asia did not feel the same way about Bali. Granted, the beaches are simply incomparable to our beaches in the Philippines, but I loved the culture. I did not go to Bali expecting white sand beaches. We also stayed in Sanur instead of Nusa Dua or Kuta (wanted to use my IHG or SPG points but decided against it). That alone made a huge difference I think. Sanur was more laid back and less crowded.

It's been a while now so I'm not sure what you ultimately decided to do. I think if you want to explore islands with stunning beaches, go to Palawan. If you'd rather take in the culture, and have a little beach time on the side, go to Bali.

Travel to the south has definitely improved. Not sure if this can be used as a point of reference for you. But as far as I know, travel from Puerto princesa to Narra is now less than 2 hours. So I'm assuming you can get to Rio tuba in 6 hours or less.

:) Yup, that's a pretty good point of reference. Thanks for that info. ^

I ended up booking 4 nights at Noa Noa Island after hearing about it from another FT'er. I'll then do 5 night in El Nido and get in some island hopping. ^

I was in Palawan for a week earlier in May this year - loved my time there!

I flew into Busuanga on Coron from Manila, spent 3 nights there, then took the ferry down to El Nido and spent another 3 nights there before taking the early bus down to Puerto Princessa, did the Underground River tour, spent a night in PP and flew back to Manila the next day.

Here are some photos of Palawan :-

Lake Kayangan in Coron (Tour C)
http://i.imgur.com/kP1yiTTl.jpg

Getting around on the Filipino traditional 'bangkas'
http://i.imgur.com/12xBk7Al.jpg

The crystal clear waters of El Nido
http://i.imgur.com/UlaI4MSl.jpg

Testing the waters to see if you guys want a Palawan trip report. We ended up flying to El Nido and staying at a private island for 4 nights and then went on to El Nido for 5 nights.

A few other FT'ers went to the private island the same day we were leaving. So they could provide input as well. After flying into Manila it's another 1 hour flight to El Nido, then about a 1 hour van ride to the dock, then another 45 minute boat ride to the island. It's basically an alternative to the El Nido resorts. I believe the maximum amount of people is 12 on the island, but they only have 2 regular rooms and 2 suites.

I believe the prices start ~$150 for the private island. Then you pay $60 per person for meals. The speed boat ride was included when booking directly. I've never had such a relaxing vacation. For three days we were the only guests on the island. Our last day we only saw the other guests around dinner time. It is fairly affordable beyond the cost of getting to El Nido.

Definitely very interested! I've been to Amanpulo before (not sure I saw it mentioned in this thread) and like that so looking for a similar alternative. Would definitely appreciate more detail.

is this Brother Island in El Nido? My parents own a B&B there in the main town

No, This is Noa Noa Island near Tay Tay, about an hour from El Nido.

http://noanoaisland.com/

I created a video on how to get to El Nido from Manila:


I didn't know it would be so difficult to plan a trip to Palawan. I thought it was going to be like traveling to Bali. Once you figure out how to get to Palawan it is a bit time consuming to figure out where to stay as almost all the hotels have mixed reviews and are fairly overpriced for the Philippines. I may end up creating a video travel guide. If you guys have any feedback let me know. I may need to include a map with an animation of the routes.

Well this won't be good for the tourist business in Palawan:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/japanese-...065428273.html

I had kind of put my Palawan travel plans on hold, given the current political/military situation in the Philippines. The recent violence in Manila kind of cemented that decision, and now this. A shame.

Interesting that these guys were out of Coron, not on the main part of Palawan as we usually think of it (another article mentions Alava Island, which is kind of close to half way between Coron and El Nido). With the State Department changing its warning recently to include dangers in Puerto Princesa and the underground river, I thought that was what this was going to be. Some real struggles with violent crime lately in the Phils.